Thursday, March 30, 2006

Garth Turner - New Age Outlaw?

There is an old saying that if your only tool is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a nail.

Looks like Garth is learning the limits of the digital medium - he clearly lost the "people" element.

People will write things they will never say face-to-face in a blog/comment etc. The attacks and retorts go either way - check out most of Garth's comment threads. (No links - "Expert" Tom used up our quota last post).

What's missing from the digital experience is the 2 way interaction based upon more that words - tone of voice and body language being the big 2!

For example - one of his critics changed their opinion of an issue just from a phone call with Garth. He had 7 posts and numerous comments on his blog about what he was doing with budget document and he did not really not get his point across until they talked on the phone.

Another example, is Garth change of heart after meeting face to face with caucus - as "they" say 90% of communication is non-verbal - he saw and heard enough to rethinkhis entire strategy. This points out another issues with exclusively relying on the digital media - the tendency for develop an us against them bunker mentality that distorts the true picture. Also, instantly dispelled once face to face.

So any lessons learned - who knows? But you need more that a computer and an internet connection to communicate effectively.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

The YWCA Daycare Report Costed

Brian Lemon has costed the proposed universal daycare described in the YWCA report. I pegged it at minimum $15-20 billion in about 30 seconds by looking at the Quebec numbers, and I always rounded down to get the lowest overall cost for sake of arguement. Brian broke it down much more and pegged it around $25 000 000 000 per year. Thats a lot of cash!

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Update on YWCA Daycare Report

I posted a story last week about the CTV story covering the YWCA study that was long on rhetoric and short on facts. Some others in the blogsphere have been writing about this bogus story as well. Plattytalk, Joan Tintor, and Sara (Choice For Childcare) have all dissected this bogus study, as well as the media coverage around it, and have, well basically called bullshit on it. Another intrepid blogger (Joanne)however took it to the next level and actually did some digging of her own and uncovered some very interesting things about the CTV version of this story. Go check it out here.

Framing the Child-Care Debate

There is a lot of confusion and misinformation regarding child-care and funding of a national daycare program in Canada. What is happening is that child-care unions, advocates, and lobbyists are misleading the public by obfuscating the debate for a national child-care program akin to Medicare by framing it around two separate implementations of child-care funding solutions that were proposed by the Liberals and the Conservatives.

These special interest lobbyists are being aided and abetted by members of the Liberal party as well as the NDP because they want to pretend that their solution will mirror this national institution building initiative, when really all it is is a daycare lottery with small odds of winning. They are also helped by a sympathetic media that is badly misinformed and comes largely from the big three cities (Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver) where they enjoy more state-run, expensive, and ineffectual national institutions.

When talking about an institutional, national, and universal child-care program, we should not be talking about the Liberal vs. Conservative implementation of some small relief to parents (although I like my odds better with the Conservatives). What we should be doing is confronting these people with the cost of this. The Quebec initiative that this is being compared to costs about 1.5 Billion dollars per year. It currently serves about 1/3 of the children in Quebec that need it. Quebec is slightly less than 1/4 of the population of Canada. Do the math and the cost for a fully funded child-care solution as these advocates are demanding will be somewhere around $15-20 billion, and that’s a conservative estimate as there are some problems with the Quebec program that suggest it would need even more funding to balance the books. Also, it would cost even more to accommodate shift workers and Canadians in remote locations.

Now ask these advocates if Canadians should run a deficit in that amount? Should Canadians have their taxes raised by tens of billions of dollars to fund this? I'm guessing that most of them would say 'yes' as they will benefit financially in that situation, but ask the average parent what they think. What about the average taxpayer? I'm guessing when properly framed, the debate would take on a whole new dimension.

Opposition party leaders warned yesterday they are willing to bring down Stephen Harper's minority government if it does not change its course -- particularly on the Tory promise to provide a child-care subsidy to parents -- in the next two weeks.

The Ipsos Reid survey, conducted for CanWest News Service and Global National, indicates the largest chunk of Canadians, 28%, picked establishing patient wait-time guarantees as their number one priority for the new Tory minority government.

Making Canadian streets safe and cracking down on crime was a close second at 24%, the survey suggested. Third spot went to cleaning up government and passing the much-touted federal accountability act, a piece of legislation Prime Minister Stephen Harper has repeatedly described as his government's top priority.

Pulling up fourth and fifth spot respectively was help with the cost of raising a child and a cut in the GST.

It seems that the Prime Minister is in step with Canadian's priorities and the Opposition parties are not. I guess its no surprise then that Harper's Approval Rating is Up.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Ralph Klein is not the Darth Vader of Healthcare

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Toronto Garbage Coming to Ottawa

The city of Toronto is facing a crisis when it comes to waste management. The state of Michigan has decided that it will no longer accept Toronto's waste. This has sent Waste Management Services scrambling to find an alternative place to dump the garbage. Several small towns across Ontario have already obtained court injunctions to block Waste Management from dumping Toronto's garbage in their towns and municipalities.

Currently, there is a debate raging in Ottawa about expanding its own capacity to take in garbage so it can accommodate Toronto's overflow of waste. It seems that the left-leaning (Liberal) inner cabal of Ottawa city council have already all but guaranteed that they will expand capacity in Ottawa's west end to take in more garbage. Only grassroots opposition by the communities affected have a shot of stopping this expansion.

Originally there were plans to find space in Toronto for their growing garbage problem. The proposal was to start dumping waste in the Air Canada Centre, but it was already full of unwanted garbage. There is no chance that this Toronto waste will make it to Ottawa this spring, most likely waiting around some golf course until fall, but it will come.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Updated: Don't Let the Facts Get in the Way of a Bad Study

CTV is running a story about a new study that claims National child care favored over over the Conservatives plan for a $1200 a year payout.

Most Canadians would prefer a national day-care program over a federal cash payout, says a new reported prepared by YWCA Canada -- the country's oldest women's organization.

Four community task forces were set up in Halifax, Vancouver, Martensville, Sask., and Cambridge, Ont., to look at how child care could be strengthened.

All of the groups -- which consisted of about 20 to 30 parents, business people and local residents -- said they wanted integrated services and they wanted it publicly funded, said study director Jenny Robinson.

There are several parts to this story which should give you pause. Were the participants 100% unanimous in their endorsement of a national childcare program? What was the breakdown of support for and against? Where were these people chosen from? Were they chosen at random? There are very few facts in this story about the study. One of the few facts that they do report is this:

The plan has angered many child-care advocates, including Robinson, who said it will only amount to about $8 a week for a middle-income family once it is taxed.

Did anyone even fact check this claim? It just jumped out as being factually incorrect. 8$ a week times 52 weeks gives you $416, a year out of the $1200 actually going to parents. This means that the average family is taxed at the rate of OVER 65% A YEAR!!! These numbers are blatently wrong and very misleading.

Would you trust a study whose author has their facts this wrong? Would you trust child-care advocates who share the same 'view' of the facts? And finally, would you trust a news source that would publish these 'facts' as they where presented?

Update: I typed up this post yesterday but did not get a chance to publish it as I got busy. I noticed this morning that the story has now been modified to remove the $8 a week claim by Ms. Robinson. I think this proves the point even more that the people behind this study are willing to blatantly lie to us and the press is willing to print these lies as facts in order to advance their cause. This happens on many other issues as well. I guess thats why we are getting more editorials like this one: The credibility gap. Don't believe the hype indeed!

Monday, March 20, 2006

Global Warming NOT Caused By Humans: Study

Greenhouse gas may not be the culprit causing global warming a recent study suggests.

According to University of Ottawa science professor, Jan Veizer, high-energy cosmic rays, originating from stars across the expanse of space, hitting Earth's atmosphere is the primary catalyst for climate change.

alsocanadian has proven that this is not only a theory, but a fact. If you study the picture below, you can actually see these "cosmic rays" bombarding the earth. This "star of death", as it were, is clearly responsible for global warming and we recommend it be forced to immediately enter into the Kyoto accord.

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Having Tim Murphy give you advice about how to conduct Canada-U.S. relations is like ...

Having Tim Murphy give you advice about how to conduct Canada-U.S. relations is like ....

having Paul Martin give you advice about how to make a decision.Or having Jean Chretien (pale - Ralph Klein?) give you advice about how to retire gracefully.Or having Bob Rae give you advice about how to balance the budget.Or having Scott Brison give you advice about how to operate a BlackBerry.Or having Dalton McGuinty give you advice about how to keep your promises.Or having Stephen Harper give you advice about media relations.Or having Gilles Duceppe give you advice about how to be a patriotic Canadian.Or having Jack Layton give you advice about how to become prime minister.Or having George Radwanski give you advice about how to fill out your expense account.Or having Belinda Stronach give you advice about how to start at the bottom and work your way to the top.

Mine:Or having Ken Dryden give you advice on public speaking.Or having Jason Cherniak give you advice on how to be non-partisan.Or having David Smith give you advice on how to avoid a conflict of interest.Or having Tony Valeri give you advice on real estate transactions.Or having Richard Mahoney give you advice on the lobbyist registration.

Saturday, March 18, 2006

alsocanadian Dethroned?

A new Decima poll reveals the Conservatives have the support of 37 per cent of decided voters, up slightly from the 36 per cent of the vote on election day. (The Liberals dropped to 28 per cent, down from 30.)

Tories seem to be gaining ground among younger people and women the Decima poll suggests.

Watch out Borque, keep this up and you may surpass alsocanadian as the king of partisan propaganda!

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Odd Couple is OUT

Insider Exclusive

Has there been a lingering question in your mind the last few weeks but you just can't quit come to terms with what it is. Something has been gnawing away at you while you eat, sleep, and work, but you just quite can't put your finger on it? I have finally figured out the question that no one has asked yet but that we are all dying to know the answer to.

Who is going to live at Stornaway? With Paul Martin the Leader of the Liberal party, but Bill Graham leader of the Liberal party in Parliament, who is actually going to live in the historic residence of the leader of the Opposition? Is it the leader of the party that is in opposition, Martin, or is it the leader of the party who will take the duties as opposition leader, Graham?

We at Also Canadian have done some digging and have come across an exclusive report that details how this situation is going to be handled. Martin and Graham have come to the agreement that they will both move in to Stornaway with wild and hilarious roommate antics sure to follow. Two friends try sharing Stornaway, but their ideas of housekeeping and lifestyles are as different as night and day. Even More Funny in real life... Than It Was As A Broadway And City-To-City Stage Smash!

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Scott Brison Still in the Running for Liberal Leadership

It looks like Scott Brison isn't ruling out a run for the Liberal leadership, despite his little 'bump' in the road, according to a fluff piece written by Jane Taber, who must be working on Brison't leadership campaign if this little piece of 'journalism' is any indication. I guess he just needed one more scandal under his belt before he could be seen as a credible Liberal leader. That brings the number of his 'mistruths' to at least 3 officially documented ones, another essential component of the leader of the Liberal party.

Asked yesterday why he lied to the newspaper, Mr. Brison said, "I was caught off guard at the time. I was not expecting the question...

My only question is, with two former Tories, a former NDPer, and a guy who is pretty cozy with the neoconservative movement in the United States, looking at running for the leadership of the Liberal party, do any actual Liberals want the job?

Canadian Immigrants Forced to Watch Brokeback Mountain?

Two men kissing in a park and a topless female bather are featured in a film that will be shown to would-be immigrants to The Netherlands.

The reactions of applicants will be examined to see whether they are able to accept the country's liberal attitudes.

....

Those sitting the test will be expected to know which country Crown Princess Maxima comes from (Argentina) and whether hitting women and female circumcision are permitted.

This film isn't supposed to portray the Dutch way of life, i.e., you don't have to kiss a member of the same sex or sunbath topless in order to immigrate there, you just can't start beating people who do this. What is interesting is that the Muslim community in the Netherlands seems to have a big problem with this.

Muslim leaders in Holland say the film is offensive.

"It really is a provocation aimed to limit immigration. It has nothing to do with the rights of homosexuals. Even Dutch people don't want to see that," said Abdou Menebhi, the Moroccan-born director of Emcemo, an organisation that helps immigrants to settle.

I think that if someone wants to immigrate to another country, they should be completely willing to accept the customs and attitudes of that country. They don't have to adopt these customs and attitudes; they just have to accept them and not lash out in a violent or demeaning way when they are confronted by them. If Muslims feel particularly slighted by this, then they should examine their own attitudes and prejudices before attempting to move to a country that has these attitudes and behaviors. Personally, I think that it is a very small portion of the Muslim community that has these violent reactions, but they are afforded every protection by a very activist community leadership which may have ulterior motives.

Should Canada start showing Brokeback Mountain in order to gauge the reaction of new Canadian applicants? I would have no problem with that, I'm just worried that there are a lot of Canadian citizens that would not pass that test either.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Proud to be Conservative. Proud to be Canadian

Thank you Prime Minister Stephen Harper. You are restoring my faith in the Canadian government as well as the pride in my country that the Liberals had eroded over the last decade. I was proud to be a Conservative supporter and proud to be Canadian when I heard the news that the Prime Minister had travelled to Afghanistan to visit the troops there.

This was his first trip abroad and he chose to visit Canadians who are doing the most dangerous and difficult work in Canada's name. His first trip abroad wasn't to schmooze with George Bush or to hob-nob with Bono at a feel good climate summit to boost his image. His first trip was to a country where his personal safety is at risk. Why did he do this? He did this because he feels the mission is important and will do what he can to make sure the mission is a success. The Prime Minister is leading by example. What a refreshing change.

Friday, March 10, 2006

Canadian Lefty Wusses Bitch-Slapped by Clinton

Can Jack Layton and the CBC shut-hell-up now about Canada's role in Afghanistan. Even the poster child for "Progressive" politics agrees with the UN sanctioned, NATO led, International mission in Afghanistan. From this story - Clinton thanks Canada for Afghanistan commitment:

"It's painful that you're losing people there and I'm sorry," Clinton said Thursday in a speech to 7,000 people at Rexall Place.

"But you've done a good thing for the cause of freedom and the stability of Canada.

"And as a citizen I am profoundly grateful that you've stayed the course and I appreciate it," he said to applause.

Now I don't always agree with this man, accept sometimes when he contradicts himself, but I agree 100% with his sentiments here. This mission is not about George Bush or Oil or any other 'lefty' or 'righty' politics. The mission is about increasing the stability and quality of life for the people of Afghanistan as well as taking away a base of operations to those that would throw the world into chaos in order to impose their fascist interpretation of Islam.

Lefties and Progressives everywhere, your leader has spoken. It's time to stop being a bunch of isolationists and resume your role and responsibilities as world citizens.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Kyoto May Be Scrapped!

The Kyoto accord is in danger and may be scrapped due to greenhouse gas emitters not signing on...According to an article in New Scientist:

"Around 15% of today's global warming is down to methane, and some of it may be bubbling up from an unlikely source - deep-sea volcanoes!

Until now, such volcanoes were thought to be a negligible source of atmospheric methane because everyone assumed the gas would oxidise long before it reached the surface. However, research on Hakon Mosby, a mud volcano 1250 metres down in the Norwegian Sea, has overturned this assumption.

Eberhard Sauter of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany, and his colleagues found a huge column of gas bubbles rising to the surface from Hakon Mosby. "

As of press time , deep-sea volcanoes have not ratified the Kyoto protocol and refuse to participate.Experts agree that if deep-sea volcanoes don't sign on, forest fires and surface volcanoes may also opt out. Animal methane releasers have already backed out, saying they could "give a fart" about Kyoto...

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Scott Brison: Time to Come Clean

I think it’s pretty apparent by now that the Liberals have been sabotaged. The tactics they have employed over the last two years have bled away support in many demographics, all for the sake of 'hanging on to power.' From the handling of the sponsorship scandal, to the 'recruiting' of Belinda, to the way they handled the election, it was apparent that someone on the inside was pulling the strings of the Liberal parties top strategists.

By giving them plausible, yet idiotic advice, they bought it hook, line, and sinker. I think its now time for the VRWC (Vast Right Wing Conspiracy), in cooperation with the CPC, to let the world in on our conspiracy. Do you want to know who the mole was? You want to know who allegedly leaked inside information about the Income Trust announcement. It was none other than former Progressive Conservative Mr. Scott Brison. Now that his cover is blown, I think its time that we pull Mr. Brison out from his double agent role in the Liberal party and give him that senate seat we promised him.

For his over-the-top defense of the Liberal party, including having to apologize for mistruths told about the NCC and Mr. Harper, telling mistruths about an audit that was not an audit, allegedly leaking insider information just before an election, and to top it off, telling a Liberal organizer to kiss his ass, I would have to say that Mr. Brison was one of the main reasons that the Liberals have suffered such an election defeat. We wanted to keep him in there to see if he could ride this all the way to the top, but sadly, it must end. Mr. Scott Brison, its time to come clean, its time to come home to the CPC.

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Stronach gets Alcock

Friday, March 03, 2006

Harper to be Investigated by Ethics Commissioner

Didn't we fire this guy yet? I'm still waiting for his investigation into Paul Martin, Belinda Stronach, Scott Brison, and Keith Martin. I wonder if he started this investigation just to keep his job a little longer as it would look bad if Harper fired him while he is investigating the Prime Minister.

Decision to Allow Religious Non-Weapons

We at Also Canadian fully support the Supreme Court's decision to allow religious non-weapons.

As Canada's representative on the Jedi Council, we are happy to know we can now wear ourceremonial lite-sabers in public. As we all know, the Jedi Order is an ancient religion thatpreaches peace and tranquility - our skills and religious objects are for defensive purposes only.

Since our lite-sabers are on the pre-prototype, we have adopted the Smith and Wesson 357 revolver as our religious non-weapon of choice and are glad to know we may carry this item in public.Of course, the item is there for religious purposes only and will be carried discreetly at all times.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

MSM Misleading Us Again?

Considering the nature of the mission in Afghanistan, this misprinted headline changes the story considerably. Was it just a spelling mistake? To the casual observer who just reads the headline, it may make them less likely to support our role in Afghanistan if they believe our soldiers were killed and injured in an armed conflict and not in a tragic accident. Are the media deliberately misleading us or just incompetent? I guess both are equally plausible.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

More Liberal Hypocrisy

As others have commented, Liberal MPs, namely Judy Sgro and Jim Karygiannis, are making asses out of themselves by telling anyone who will listen that Stephen Harper should get down to Mexico with his Junior Detectives Kit and try and find 'the real killers' before the Mexican police throw away the 'bloody glove' in the trash. This is just idiotic and somewhat comical. What is less funny is the shear hypocrisy and over the top partisan hackery that they are displaying.

Anyone remember a Canadian photojournalist named Zahra Kazemi? The Liberal government, whom both these ass clowns were a part of, did absolutely nothing to find out what happened to her. They never set foot in Iran to find 'clues' and they did the bare minimum to even pressure the Iranian government to look into what happened, and Kazemi died WHILE IN CUSTODY OF THE IRANIAN GOVERNMENT. She wasn't murdered in a resort hotel. She was killed by representatives of the Government of Iran. What about Mahir Arar? He was being tortured for over a year before the Canadian government did anything about it. Do you remember William Sampson? He was going to be executed in Saudi Arabia for a crime he didn't commit and it took British officials to negotiate his release because the Liberal government at the time couldn't be bothered.

There have been many cases in the last few years where Canadians have been killed or kidnapped in foreign countries and the Liberal government did the bare minimum to handle these situations. For the Liberals now to criticize the CPC Government on this issue just shows how low the Liberals will go in order to score cheap political points. What’s even more infuriating, however, is the fact that these Liberals have been all over TV and radio newscasts saying these things without being questioned once on the Liberal record on Foreign Affairs. I guess all events that happened before January 23rd have already been stricken from the record.